George Washington’s Providence
2013-12-23 · Guest: Ray Lorber (Author of George Washington’s Providence) · 8:44
George Washington’s belief in divine Providence
Bob Zadek discusses the immersive historical experience of Colonial Williamsburg before introducing guest Ray Lorber to discuss his book, George Washington’s Providence. The conversation explores George Washington’s personal belief that he was protected by a divine force to fulfill a great destiny for the American colonies.
Topics: George Washington, Colonial Williamsburg, American Revolution, Providence, Ray Lorber, Founding Fathers
Speakers: Bob Zadek, Ray Lorber
Bob Zadek: Hello everyone, welcome to the Bob Zadek show every Sunday at noon at Talk 910. Thanks so much for listening. I’m your eponymous host, Bob Zadek, here every Sunday with libertarian live talk and conversation—actually conversation and talk are the same. Thanks so much for listening. We are the only live libertarian talk radio show on the air all weekend and the leading libertarian talk radio show in the Bay Area. We certainly enjoy spending the 90 minutes with you every Sunday. 800-345-5639 is the way to join the conversation.
Colonial Williamsburg and the Living History of the Founders [00:53]
Bob Zadek: There is a wonderful place in America which I strongly recommend each of you visit if you have an opportunity. It’s Colonial Williamsburg, Williamsburg, Virginia. It is an entire functioning pre-revolutionary war village. It was important because Jefferson and many others walked the streets of Colonial Williamsburg. The tavern in which Jefferson played his violin to entertain members of the House of Burgesses is right there. It is a wonderful place to visit.
One of the wonderful parts about a village like Colonial Williamsburg is there is a theater. And in the theater, they have, instead of performers, the entertainment for those people who visit the theater is you sit in the audience and on stage will be Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, George Mason, George Washington. There will be men who have devoted their entire lives to living as best they can and understanding the lives of our founders.
And the thrilling part of that entertainment—and entertainment almost sounds too shallow—the thrilling part of it is you sit in the audience and there is, in period dress, Thomas Jefferson speaking to you for 40 minutes. And then in the best part, the best part, although it’s all fabulous, is the speaker, the founder if you will, takes questions. And the audience raises their hand and you get to ask Thomas Jefferson a question.
And since these are not actors who have spent like a couple of months preparing, but rather these are actors, if you can call them that, who have spent their lives understanding the men they impersonate. So it is as close as we can ever come to asking Thomas Jefferson a question.
And I was there twice. The first speaker I heard was Patrick Henry, and that was interesting because Patrick Henry, the voice of thunder, is a very colorful character and by the way, one who vehemently opposed the Constitution—and frankly, he was right, but that’s another topic for another day. And the other speaker was George Washington. And I got to raise my hand and ask General Washington, President Washington, a question, which was thrilling.
And to this day, I am killing myself because I had two questions lined up to ask General Washington. And I asked them in the wrong order because he only called on me once. The question I wanted to ask General Washington is—because I didn’t think he’d be prepared, he the actor would be prepared to answer this question because it’s not one he would have normally gotten. And the question was: “General Washington, tell us how you felt the moment you learned that Benedict Arnold had betrayed you. What went through your mind?” And General Washington, who of course was very reserved and did not, to say the least, wear his feelings on his sleeve, I think that question would have elicited an answer he was unprepared for.
George Washington’s Providence [04:53]
Bob Zadek: All that is by way of introduction to today’s guest. It was thrilling to raise my hand and in my mind be able to ask General Washington, President Washington, a question. I came very close to doing that again, to again having a personal relationship with General Washington by reading a book called George Washington’s Providence, written by Ray Lorber, who is my guest today.
Ray will explain the premise and what he has learned in his 10 years of research on General Washington. But what was special about the book, and why I urge you to read the book and why in my conversation with Ray today you will learn so much, is in other history books, the historian who’s writing the book will often state facts and observations that the author has gotten from, hopefully, firsthand information, original letters and manuscripts written by the participants in the activity.
What Ray did in his book is his book is full of, sometimes the full text of, actual letters written by and to General Washington. And that to me was so unusual and wonderful about the book because I didn’t just learn a lot, but I felt I could imagine the letter being written to me. And I felt closer to one of my—one of my second favorite founders, but maybe he’ll move to number one after I finish reading this book—I felt closer on a personal basis to President, to General Washington.
So with that introduction, I’m happy to welcome Ray Lorber to the show. Ray has written, and Ray is in the studio, George Washington’s Providence. Ray has spent 10 years writing the book. Questions for Ray: 800-345-5639. Ray, welcome to the show and tell us the premise of your book, if you would.
Ray Lorber: Thank you, Bob. I am honored to be on the show today. I know you have a vast knowledge of George Washington and the founding fathers, and to have the opportunity to sit here and talk with you about the topic—my favorite topic—is really an honor for me.
Bob Zadek: Thank you. Now, what was the premise of the book? What drove you, of all the things you could have done for the past 10 years, what made you decide this is how you wanted to spend a decade of your life?
Ray Lorber: I retired and started reading about the founding fathers—John Adams’ book by McCullough and several other books. And I was picking up on there was a lot of conversation about Providence. And I noticed that George Washington had his own personal Providence. He believed he was being saved by Providence to do something great because he knew he was—
Bob Zadek: By Providence, you mean God?
Ray Lorber: By God. His version of God. And he knew he was destined to do something great in this world, and Providence was protecting him so he could accomplish that.
Bob Zadek: And that was, of course, the theme. And Ray will explain the many, many, almost countless harrowing experiences that George Washington lived through during his extraordinarily long life. He lived much longer than the average male of his generation, much, much longer. And Ray will—